Susan Is A Downer

Lucy Fan

Lucy Fan

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I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way. In the first movie, she was in disbelief about being in Narnia, and she was very negative throughout the movie. In the second movie, she was again in disbelief. When Lucy asked Susan if she was happy to be in Narnia and she said "while it lasts" I didn't like that at all. I mean, I know that's what her character is like in the books. I mean, if it was me, I would have been like Lucy. I would have loved to be in Narnia. Don't get me wrong, Anna is a great actress and she plays her part greatly. I just don't think Susan should be there if she doesn't want to be. I think only those who can appreciate being in Narnia should be there. People that want to be, do you know what I mean?!

Sorry, I don't mean to be negative. It's just something small that's been bothering me that I keep forgetting to mention.
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Body Science
 
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well I think that Susan did liked to be in Narnia but she knew that she had to leave and she was sad because of that that's why she said to Lucy "While it last"
 
I think that susan is just too "Logical" about everything. Narnia doesn't make sense to her at first. It just shouldnt exist in her train of thinking; and in Prince Caspian she knows that she will only be there for a short time, so she doesnt want to get as attatched to Narnia as she did the first time and then get ripped away from it.
 
I don't think Lewis did much flippantly or on accident when writing. I think Susan is supposed to demonstrate the people Jesus talked about in the parable of the sower (see Matthew 13:22). Susan accepted the Truth (with a capital T) of Narnia initially, but was unwilling to see it through to the end. She simply got distracted by other things. While she still has admirable qualities, and is not an inherently bad person (any more or less than the rest of us), she allows herself to fall. Out of the two Pevensie girls, I think we should want to be Lucy, who accepts Aslan wtih that child-like faith.
 
"in Prince Caspian she knows that she will only be there for a short time"

king-peter-rox, why would she have thought that they were only going to be there for a short time? The last time they were there, they stayed for decades.

Lucy Fan, I think they just made Susan like that since she is the one who abandons Narnia later. That just represents more foreshadowing. They couldn't have it in the faith walk, so they had to add it someplace else.

MrBob
 
Susan didn't know she'd be there for a short time. Maybe her statement was made in regard to the fact of their coming back from Narnia in the first movie. She more than likely knew that stays in Narnia, however long, wouldn't be permanent. (of course, she might have forgotten about Aslan's country, but I don't think even Lucy realized that going to Aslan's Country was a permanent deal.)

Not to mention, that line was added probably to explain her later disbelief in Narnia. and as others have said, susan was very much logical and common-sense about everything. I wonder though, if during their reign at Cair Paravel, she lost that logic and became more of a believing queen instead of a doubting child. it's not said but makes one wonder....

anywho, that isn't the point of this thread. just had to chase that rabbit. :p
 
Susan is a very logical, smart, teenage girl, which is the very reason why she's so "disbelieving" in Caspian. She's growing out of the belief in magic, even if it's staring her right in the face. It is unfortunate, but that's what makes her an incredibly compelling character - in my opinion, the only three-dimensional character in the series.
 

Wow, everyone has made a great point in this thread. I saw Susan's character in so many different ways. Thanks to all that put their input in. :)
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well, to me Susan didn't have the choice when Caspian called her to come back in Narnia, and I think (in the movie) she was happy to find love, but it's true, I would love to be in Narnia, which makes me closer to Lucy ... Not that Susan is a downer, she's just a grown-up, too grown-up maybe ...
 
Powl' said:
someone I didn't like in PC was Peter, he was so hateful !!! :(
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I agree. He was kind of a big head or a big shot. He kept having this attitude like he didn't need Aslan and that he knew everything and didn't want much help from anyone. I liked him in the first movie, but the second I was drawn away. :(
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Even in the books, Susan is always the first one to draw away from the experience. In LWW when they find Tumnus' cave wrecked, she immediately says they should go home; this isn't going to be much fun. Then at the end of LWW, when the adult kings and queens are chasing the white stag who leads them into a thicket to the lamp post, Susan is the one who says she won't follow in there, and they should return to Cair Paravel. I think Lewis consistently made it her nature to be the cautious one.
 
"Oh so you knew this would happen?" "I didn't know what would happen which is why we should've left while we still could!" Susan and Peter.

I think this speaks for itself about what Susan thought of Narnia.
 
That line isn't in the books ... she is more of a downer in the movie i guess ... but you are supposed to be getting the idea that she's the less adventurous one, the one who will eventually forget all about Narnia ...
 
Aravis_yanes said:
well I think that Susan did liked to be in Narnia but she knew that she had to leave and she was sad because of that that's why she said to Lucy "While it last"
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I gathered that too both Susan & Peter realized early on that this was very likely their last venture into Narnia and they were right...
 
Even in the book Susan was not that adventurous, she was quick to lay aside the things she learned. She was a rather silly queen to even consider Rabadash. Lewis gives subtle clues (and some not so subtle clues) in his later books that Susan is falling off; that her high school-aged maturity (not real maturity but what is considered mature in high school) has pulled her away from her faith. In fact, even though he may not have had clear idea of what he was going to do with Narnia the series by the time that he ended writing LWW, he laid the ground work for her change in that book.

In the movie, the reason why Susan comes off in a bad light is because, while they got the period costume right, they were a little poor on the period dialogue (think the "Oh my Gosh, he is so cute!" line). Susan, in the movie seems to be suffering from modern-teenager-itous. She is too sarcastic, she is too fighty. She is too contradictory of her older brother. They all (except maybe Edmund) are wrong according to their book character. I think Anna played stuff up too much, I think Lucy was a little too pushy for what Lucy was in the book. As for Peter, well let's just let that one rest for another thread.
 
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